EXPLORE THE BRITISH LIBRARY:
MY WORKSPACE
http://explore.bl.uk
My workspace
Adding items to My workspace
Customising folders
Moving items between folders
Email/print from My workspace
Add to social bookmarking site
This session’s searches
Saving searches
Personal settings
What is My workspace?
My workspace is an area where you can store records of items you find, save searches or
alerts and save personal settings.
There are three tabs in My workspace; the active tab is highlighted blue:
Folder
Searches &
Alerts
Personal
settings
You can create folders in which to store records and add notes
alongside your stored records.
You can print, email, save and push records to a social bookmarking
site from here.
You can also request items from your Folders.
You can view all the searches you have performed during the current
session.
You may also be able to view all the searches/alerts you have saved
from previous sessions.
You can store your email address.
You can choose how many items per page you want to display in your
lists of results.
Note: You will only see all the functions if you are logged in to ‘Explore the British Library’
Only registered Readers and customers of our document supply service can log in.
Guest users, who cannot log in, can only store records, view searches carried out and
store personal settings for the length of their session.
Note: When a registered Reader pass expires any information saved in a reader’s
workspace is automatically deleted. There is no means of re-instating this information.
Readers should ensure they renew their reader pass before it expires if they have items in
their workspace that they wish to keep.
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Adding items to My workspace

Click on the star symbol alongside the record’s brief details, in your results list, to add
the item:
The star turns orange once the item has been added.

Or, if viewing the record’s Details tab, click Send to and select Add to My workspace
in the right-hand corner of the panel:
If you want to add more than one record at a time you can add all the records displayed on
the page you are viewing.

Click the Add results page to my workspace link on the left of the screen, above the
Refine options:
Go to My workspace and Select Folder to see the item:
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Note: If you are not logged in, records are only added temporarily to the folder. If you are a
registered reader or document supply customer, log in to save records for future use.
Customising folders
You will see a selection of icons in My workspace:
You can:
 Create a new folder or subfolder
 Rename an existing folder
 Copy/paste existing folders
 Delete a folder
 Add a folder note
Create a new folder
To create a new folder:
 Click on
the new folder icon
 Give your folder a name
 Click Save:
To create a subfolder:
 Click on an existing folder
 Click on
the new folder icon
 Give your folder a name
 Click Save:
To display or hide subfolders:
 Click on either the + or – sign by the folder name:
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To add notes for folders:
 Click the balloon icon
 Click Save:
next to the folder
To re-edit the note
 Click on the note
 Click Edit
 Click Save:
Rename an existing folder
To rename an existing, folder:
 Highlight the folder
 Click the rename icon
:
A box will appear below your folder:
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 Type in the new name
 Click Save.
Copy/paste existing folders
You can use copy/paste to move an existing folder into another folder.
 Highlight the folder you wish to move
 Click on
the copy folder icon
 Now highlight the folder where you want to move to
 Click on
the paste folder icon.
Delete a folder
To delete a folder:
 Highlight the folder
 Click on
the delete folder icon.
Add a note to an item
You can add notes tor items
 Click the balloon icon
 Click Save:
next to the item
To re-edit the note
 Click on the note
 Click Edit
 Click Save:
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Moving items between folders
When you save an item to your folders, it is saved by default to the Folder. You can,
however, move it to another folder if you wish.
 Click on the box to the left of the item you want to move, so that a tick appears:
 Click pm the cut icon
 Highlight the folder of your choice
 Click on
, the paste icon.
The item will then be saved in the chosen folder.
Email/print from My Workspace
You can email/print the records of the items you have saved in My workspace.
 To email/print one or more records, select the record(s) using the tick box:
 Click Print and print as you would normally
 Or click E-mail
A pop-up window appears:
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

If you are not logged in/have not previously stored your email details, enter your
email address in the pop-up window that appears; you may also add a note
Click Send.
If you only want to email/print one record, you can instead highlight the record by clicking
on it so that the details display in the bottom half of the screen:
 Click on Send to and select E-mail and proceed as detailed above.
Add to social bookmarking site
You can add one or more records of the items you have saved, in My workspace, to a
social bookmarking site.
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Select the record(s) using the tick box; then click on the drop-down arrow to the side of the
‘Select how to save/Push to EndNote’ box; select your preferred book-marking site and
click Go:
If you just wish to add one record, you can instead, highlight the record by clicking on it so
that the details display in the bottom half of the screen, then click on Send to and select
your preferred book-marking site:
This session’s searches
All the searches you make in a session are temporarily stored in My workspace and when
you finish your session these searches will be deleted.
To view searches you’ve carried out during your session:
 Select My workspace
 Click on the Searches & Alerts tab
 Click on the This session’s searches link on the left, if it does not automatically
display (If you are logged in your Saved searches and Alerts will display when you
first click the Searches & Alerts tab.)
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 To re-run a search click the highlighted search term(s).
Saving searches
If you are a registered reader or document supply customer, you can choose to save your
searches; you must be logged in to save searches.
The save search facility is at the top of your results, above the Refine options:
 Click on Save search.
A new dialogue box will open:
 Give your search a name
 Click on Save, or Save & alert.
If you choose this second option, you will be asked to specify an email address, unless you
have previously stored this in ‘Personal settings’. You will then receive email updates when
new items meeting your search criteria are added to ‘Explore the British Library’.
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Your search will be saved into the Saved searches folder in My workspace.
 Click on the search name to execute the search again
 Click on delete to remove the search from the folder
 Click on update to update a saved search to an alert.
Personal settings
The third tab is where you can store your email address, and select how many items you
want to see per page.
 Click on Edit Details to update your information:
You could also store an SMS (mobile phone) number but the text alert facility is not
available.
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